Tropical Storm Elsa is now in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and will be impacting Florida through Wednesday. At the latest advisory from the NHC, Tropical Storm Elsa was about 65 miles west-northwest of Key West, Florida, and is tracking north-northwest at 10 mph.
As Elsa passed over the Florida Keys, the storm produced tropical-storm-force winds (39+ mph), impacting a small area over the southwest Gulf and lower Florida Keys,
The Florida Keys and into the southwest and western portions of the Florida Peninsula will see around three to five inches of localized rain and up to eight inches through Wednesday.
A hurricane watch has been issued for a part of Florida’s immediate west-central and Big Bend coast, from Egmont Key to the Steinhatchee River, and most of the Tampa Bay metro area.
Tropical Storm Elsa is not a hurricane yet, although maximum sustained winds of 60 mph have been recorded in some quadrants of the storm. There is a possibility of the storm reaching hurricane status by landfall on Wednesday.
On the forecast path, Elsa is expected to turn north and then northeast around the western periphery of a high-pressure system in the western Atlantic through Wednesday. This trajectory will take Elsa up the Atlantic Coast.
The Tampa – St. Petersburg area will see its worst impacts from the storm Tuesday night into early Wednesday. Other parts of the Southeast, including southeast Georgia, the coastal Carolinas, and southeast Virginia, will see some impacts from Elsa late Wednesday into Thursday night.
